Dovetail interlocking members.



R. C. SMITH.

DOVETAIL INTERLOCKING MEMBERS.

APPLICATYON FILED SEPT1 4. 19l5.

Patented May 2,

wi/t mamas (Au 0.116014% fi 3513 11 GU01 11c @iwwu UNITED s'rarns ra'rnnr o BENNSYLVANIA.

Specification of Letters Patent. "hill 1 6 Application filed September f1, 1915. Serial No. 49,118. I a lo'mrot' glgg thknown that I, RAYBURN CLARK fiitirrr lzitoitizen of the United States, residigga-tal 'hgiladelphia, in the county of Phila- ,/gztelphgi; and State of Pennsylvania, have inmuted new. and useful Improvements in or. EQYeta-ilxInterlocking Members, of ,whi ch the toll-lowing is aspccification.

ajsrThis anvent-io'n relates to builders hard 10 mare afiid" particularh to such as used for forming". interlocking connections. My in- 53 tic-Flocking members may be employed in pi'notice'wtbr constructions of various kinds; fraae i-iample, in constructing unit partitions,

natures-ceases, telephone booths, or other cehstructions involving the use of panels and pxtatsneithe'i or both made of wood, metal or othei materials, the parts of which are preferably-to: be attached together without the to usmofispe'cial tools and without the use of ifiatsttzriiiwssuch asscrews, nails, glue, etc.

69 n igrzpi iiicipal object of the invention is to whence two very simply constructed membalt l of vct llnplementary form which may be rtla ttlly' irltierlocked together.

. .ler'rngfiuither object of the invention is to fiflf'gilfe lstrhj interlocking members a form whtxh qjarticularly adapts them for ready attachment to the parts which they are to so 'ch ineetlltogether.

f Al fil k fillel' object of the invention is to give aizfii ithe ime flocking members a construction in kv li ic ll filie parts to which they attach fit into thi flnlelnbers and operate to effect their.

giant! alinementwhen attached in place.

' f l stlll further plfov itle" a. pair of complementary interlocklIl lt'it llnbers, each of which is formed from 5mg or sheet of plate metal stamped or as. hellt tbform, and wherein the interlocking pdrtiohs of the said members. are formed by rma-mg or doubling the metal 'upon itself so'tlia t the said portions may yield slightly taller): the complementary members are fj iatytght-into interlocking engagement, thus 5' it members will not only fit closeor snug, :there will also be what may be termed a lclding intergraspingconnection between remembers whereby a firm and substantial ticture is provided.

' which it corresponds.

similar to Fig. l" but illustrating the way in. which the socket member shown in Fig. 1,

.Fig. is a perspective showing a tongue mcmberofa slightly modified form adapting it for luse object of the invention is to' %BURN CLARK SMITH. OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORi THE 0'' IT CONSTRUCTION CO., 0F PHILADEQB HIA. PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION DOVETAIL INTEBLOCKING MEMBERS.

Patented May 2, 1916,.

Further objects of the in'vention will appear more fully hereinafter.

The invention consists'in the'general combination of parts and details hereinafter described, all of which contribute to produce3 etlicient dovetail interlocking members.

A preferred embodiment of the inventionh i is described in the following specification,

while the broad scope of the invention is pointed out in the appended claims.

juxtaposition. Fig. 1 is a perspective illustrating one of the ways in whichthe tongue member may be attached to the part to Fig. '1' is .a view may beemployed in practice.

in connecting parts of a slightly differentnature from that of the parts'shown in Figs.

1 and 1".

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig, 2 but showing a socket member of slightly modified form from that shown in Fig. l,

and showing the same attached to a sup-.

porting part which is attachable to the sup porting part shown in Fig. 2 Fig -flis a perspective showing another slightly modrlied form of the tongue member adapting it to another specific relation in vhieh it' may be employed. ing a corresponding part attachable to the part: shown in Fig. 3 and carrying socket members of a slightly modified form. Fig. l is a cross-section through twoc'onnected supporting parts whichare attached to-.

gether by meansof my complementary interlocking members. Fig. 5 is a. substantially vertical section taken through one of the complementary members. Fig. 6 is a vertical cross-section taken about on the line 66 of Fig. 4.

The interlocking members preferably comprise a tongue member 1O and a socket member 10 These members 10? and 10" have a special form enabling them to inter- Fig. 3 is a perspective showlock together and they are. preferably con- I Structed so that they maybe very economibers to be produced at a ."d

tended in erably formed of relatively long and narrow strips of plate material bent into the required form. This bending operation may be performed by means of di 4 which give considerable accuracy in the duct, at the same time enabling the in" king memcost. To preferably the form of l or end porbent laterally 'l on transverse this end the tongue inembe consists ofa body pora fa e pl. and the sic tions of -his face plate are from the plane of the plat lines so as form integ e portions 12. The material which forms the oppositely disposed converging Walls or flange portions 12 is then further bent upon itself by forming bends 13, and then extending the material toward the face plate 11 so that it presents integral leaves 14 which overlie and strengthen the flange portions; and the extreme ends of theseleaves 14 may, if desired, be bent outwardly so as to form feet 15 which lie substantially against the inner face of theface plate, which face plate then forms an intermediate web connecting the converging Walls.

Anticipating that it may be desired to at tach the tongue member at point Where an angle is presented, I, prefer to provide the same with an integrallaterally extending wing plate 16 which lies in a plane substantially at right angles to the plane of the body portion 11.

The face plate 11 is preferably provided with means such as openings 17 for screws or other fastening devices, but the flange portions and leaves 14 are preferably devoid of any fastening means. Similar fastening means in the form of openings 18 may be formed in the wing plate 16, y

The socket member 1'0 has many features of similarity to the tongue member 10; It consists of a body portion or face plate 19,

. the side edg .3 of which are bent so as to project laterally from the face )late and form flange portions 20 and these ange portions are formed with bends 21 beyond which the material extends forwardly again toward the face plate so as to form leaves 22 which overlie the flange portions. The face plate 19 is also preferably provided'with means such as openings 2 which may receive fastening devices such as screws. The flange portions 90 and the leaves 22 are preferably d void of any fastening means. desired, the socket member may be provided with a Si plate 24 indicated in; dotted lines, rthermore, if desired, the wing plate of the tongue member may be exthe opposite direction so that it will occupy the position indicated at 16 in prefer that the flange portions 12 of the tongue member 10 shoal-cl on go, toward 6' each other in a longitudj e tion, and also in a transverse direction. By reason of the convergence .in the longitudinal direction, the-face plate 11 presents substantially the appearance of a dove tailf By-reason of the convergence in a transverse direction, the outline of the (moss-section through the tongue member also presents the form of a dove tail. lfilowe prefer that the leaves 14 should not conterge but should lie substantially parallel :with eaclrother; The eorre po parts of-the" o ilet-h'lember V go and are similarly formed that is, tl face plate 19 SlfZC-Ul'tlijbi?E'Of'ifiiilbSfi-HH} tially dove-tail formazlid he .ci oss through I a socket iepibe should present the dovediai line, correspograling to ceive the tongue membe r the case of the tongue me ilic the leaves 22 should not lie in substantially par l le the leaves of thee/e are position or parallel lilien definite as desocket 27 formed in il- The socket 27 is slightly enlarged and pre sents parallel side faces 2 )v against which rest the leaves 22 of the sopket member. This. of course. (littl'llllliLSaIllQ p,ositionof the socket member 10" andliiisurcsthat it will have proper alincnient i V the tongue member 10*. 'll' the interl-ziclcing incnilicrs ha erly determined. they tion by suitable iifiza: screws 30 whi snoncling Qlhflill SOClCti, 27 is prci oi' cnla l width with respect to the groove 51 un on is in tended to rereivc and coi'ipcratc with the tongue 26. 7 t

The manner in which the lemgcs lie against the forwardly extending sidifaces 29 of the Socket 2? appears full from Fig. 1 (1. At the same time this view indicates the manner in which the flange portions -2 converge in a longitudinal direction As a linction part 28.:

further example of the adaptability of these interlocking members, to particular requirements, attention is called to Figs. 2 and 2 in which a wing plate 32 is provided corresponding to the wing plate 16 but it is not formed at the edge of the face plate 33 of the tongue member. but face plate 33 is formed with a shank or extension 34 lying in a plane with it and carried up so that a bend or dihedral angle 35 is formed in the plate to attach to an angle 36 formed in the construction part 37 to which the tongue member is attached. Such an adaptation of the interlocking member is desirable where the construction part hasthe form shown in 37 which may be used'foi a base rail. In such a construction it is desirable to depress the position of the tongue member so as to bring it as near as possible to the mid-height of the rail. Such a construction part or base rail 37 may be provided with upwardly extending sides 38 which form a groove 39 be tween them to receive the lower edge of a panel, the upper edge of which may be received in a corresponding channel 40 formed in the lower edge of the construction part 25 which may constitute a cap rail. The corresponding interlocking construction part 41 which is to be attached-to the construction part 37 needs no particular description except to'sa'y that above the point of'attachment to socket member 42, the enlarged socket 43 extends upwardly to give clearance for the tongue member when it is being placed over the socket member 42 before it is dropped into interlocking position. The construction part 37 may have a tongue 44 to which the face plate 33 is attached and this tongue member is received in the groove 45 in the face of the attachable part 41.

In some circumstances, it may be advisable to omit any wing plate such as the wing plate 16; for example, see Fig. 3 and if desired, the wing plate may be formed upon. the socket member instead. for example, see Fig. 3, where the socket member 46 is represented as having an integral wing plate 47 which is attached to the-upper face of a con struction part 48 which may constitute an overhead rail. Such an overhead rail may have a second socket 49 on the opposite side of the rail thereby enabling two construction parts 50 to be attached to a common rail 48, so as to extend in opposite directions.

Owing to the fact that my improved inter locking members are made from stri s of sheet or plate metal stamped or bent to form and the further fact that the interlocking flange portions of the members are -brought into interlocking engagement they firm and substantial structure is provided.-

T his I consider to be animportant feature of the invention.

It is understood that the embodiment of the invention set forth herein is only one of the many embodiments or forms the ln-.

vention may take, and I do not wish to be limited in the pra'ice of the invention nor in. my claims to th ew articular embodiment set fortlr/ And I may use any feature of my invention without the other features.

\Vhat I claim is:

1. The combination with two members to be locked together, one of said members havinga groove and the other a tongue. of a wedge shape male member having converging resilient side flanges embracing the opposite side walls of the tongue, and a female member seated in the groove and having com erging resilient side flanges embraced by the side walls of the groove. the male and fe male members being adapted when brought into interlocking engagement to draw the tongue member tightly into the groove' member.

2. The comlanation with two members to be locked together. one of said members having a groove and the other a tongue. of interlocking connections consisting of a male member having spaced side flanges embracing the opposite walls of the tongue. and the other a female member having spaced side flanges embraced by the side walls of the groove. the male and female members havin convc n p vial-rin walls and ada ted a I y c 2- when lROF; i into erlocking engagement to draw th tu'giie nember tightiy into the 4. A dovetail interlocking joint member adapted to interlock with a complementary joint member, consisting of a body portion in the form of a face plate having integral flange portions extending therefrom and converging toward each other in a longitudinal and transverse direction, a supporting part receiving the said interlocking member, said face plate being attached to said supporting part, said supporting part having side faces, said flange portions having bends at their rear edges and having leaves extending in frmntiw mu: nun pmjmztlng tw fimg wa of 611w fz-u aie mm ahm hard?! ward said fauna f :i and A a) 11m said siJe a 2-,: M1111- saif! Hang) nrvtions within the keis. 1

.3 An ini'wrlociaixzg' deviw am" wbing a myhmz-d he; Sh'ki meta} male lncmlvr hm ing mliwerging PP-=5H2 portions constviiutimi' violdah'le fiflligih and a, sheet met-a]. female member lmvi U cmlnzrgln sMe flanges firming a (um-Mm Ur 10 the reception of the male menibex; tlli; 

